There are numerous methods in which superstructures are required to investigate a non-transparent sample which require and therefore restrict the geometric space in the vicinity of the sample. As an example, mention may be made here of the desire to examine the object optically with high resolution. For this purpose an objective is required which, with a high numerical aperture and good imaging properties, is usually at a short distance from the object and has a diameter of a few centimeters.
A further method, for example, a probe microscope, must now make do with the available space. In this case, however, an optimal superstructure also requires that the probe and its holder and adjuster are arranged very compactly. A deviation from this principle usually results in an embodiment which is no longer optimal in the sense of the measurement. Accordingly, a compromise must be found in which the quality of the optical method and the quality of the other methods must be weighed up against one another. In the case of the probe microscope, in most cases light is used for detection in order, for example, to determine the deflection of the cantilever. It can also be the case that the two methods must be operated in combination. This is the case, for example, for TERS (“Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy”), a method in which light is guided onto the tip of a probe microscope and returning light is supplied to a Raman analysis.